2022 may finally take off the paper some privatization projects that the government has been intending to carry out for some time.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure’s agenda, ports should gain prominence in 2022. The ministry’s intention is to carry out the privatization of at least two ports this year, in addition to the concession of two others.
The first on the privatization list is Companhia Docas do Espírito (Codesa), responsible for the administration of the Port of Vitória. Port privatization was approved in December 2021 by the TCU and the auction should take place in March of this year, according to the Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas.
In 2021, Codesa achieved its best result in cargo handling. There were more than 8.150 million tons, surpassing 2011, when it reached 8.113 million.
The company’s president, Julio Castiglioni, told the CNN Brasil Business the expectation is that the public notice for the sale of Codesa with concession of the Port of Vitória will be published in the third week of January.
“This idea of privatization is not new, it is work that has been ongoing for about five years and has intensified in the last three. We held about 170 work meetings, webinars, lectures, in addition to two public hearings and a public consultation, which was open for more than two months”, he said.
“Once the bid notice is published, we expect to hold the auction and the opening of proposals at B3 in mid-March,” added the president.
It is hoped that the privatization of the Port of Vitória will pave the way for the same process at the Port of Santos — the largest in Latin America.
Last year, the Ministry of Infrastructure granted some terminals in the Santos port complex to the private sector, but the project to privatize the port this year is more ambitious.
“The ports will be deprived in a very short time. We are going to take the largest port in Latin America and transform it into the largest port in the Southern Hemisphere”, declared minister Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, during an event for a railway concession to the private sector, in December 2021.
According to a statement from the administration of the Port of Santos, a total of 134.81 million tons were accumulated in the year until November — the best result in history for the period.
“The port that handled 130 million tons will move 250 from then on,” added Tarcisio.
Other ports highlighted on the agenda of the Ministry of Infrastructure are Itajaí (SC) and São Sebastião (SP), with the concession of the complexes to the private sector also expected this year.
Eletrobras
The BNDES stated, during a public hearing on Wednesday (5), that the expectation is that the capitalization offer for Eletrobras will take place in mid-March of this year.
The pricing of the operation is scheduled to take place in April, according to Leonardo Mandelblatt, head of the BNDES’ Corporate Structuring and Divestment department.
It is noteworthy that the capitalization of Eletrobras was approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate, leaving only the project to be analyzed by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).
The first project on the 2022 schedule, according to Mandelblatt, will be the holding of an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to discuss the privatization of Eletrobras, which should take place on February 22nd.
“Eletrobras is very advanced, unlike the others. Congress has already approved privatization, so I believe there may be resistance and criticism, but the process is basically over. All that remains is for the TCU to ratify it”, said economist Gesner Oliveira.
“Although there is a discussion about the company’s valuation and the adopted sales model, there is a good prospect of approval already signaled by TCU. Therefore, our expectation is that Eletrobras will be privatized along the proposed lines”, highlighted the economist.
The privatization of Correios is another long-standing desire of the federal government, which still awaits a positive outcome.
The proposal authorizing the exploitation of Brazilian postal services by the private sector was approved in the Chamber of Deputies in August 2021, but is facing resistance in the Senate.
The text by the rapporteur, senator Márcio Bittar (PSL-AC) has been under analysis by the Committee on Economic Affairs (CAE) since November last year.
“The chance that the privatization of Correios will take place in 2022 I would say is very low, almost zero. The bill still has to go through the Senate and, if approved, then there is the TCU process”, said Gesner Oliveira.
According to the economist, the project is advanced in many aspects, but because it is an election year, it will be very difficult for it to be ratified. “There is a good chance that, depending on the next administration, the discussion can be taken forward,” said the economist.
“It is unlikely that this privatization will take place in 2022,” he added.
Other privatizations
According to the Investment Partnership Program (PPI), apart from those mentioned above, there are at least 25 privatization projects in progress.
Among them are services of supply, communication, energy, education, forestry, natural gas, sanitation, public lighting, urban mobility, penal complexes and solid waste and parks.
Some of these projects that have not yet come out of the oven involve the EBC (Empresa Brasil de Comunicação), the CBTU (Urban Train Company), in addition to the privatization of the Postal Sector and the Brazilian Postal and Telegraph Company (ECT).
Check out the complete list of ongoing PPI privatization processes:
Reference: CNN Brasil
I am Sophia william, author of World Stock Market. I have a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and I have worked as a reporter for several news websites. I have a passion for writing and informing people about the latest news and events happening in the world. I strive to be accurate and unbiased in my reporting, and I hope to provide readers with valuable information that they can use to make informed decisions.
